Put It Into Practice: Activity B

Activity B: Formal Performance Assessments

Formal assessments focus on 1) broader tasks that may involve significant in-class and out-of-class time, depending upon the content and the Communication modes involved, or 2) cumulative content knowledge. For example, Nancy Gadbois's Integrated Performance Assessment in Springfield, Massachusetts, was done over several weeks to assess interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational communication, with each mode taking in-class or out-of-class time as was appropriate to the task (for example, class time to view the video and out-of-class time to prepare for presentations). In another video classroom excerpt, French and Spanish students at Nanuet High School wrote and illustrated children's storybooks, then read them to younger students. This final performance project focused on presentational communication that was written, oral, and visual.

The following is an outline of what the Nanuet teachers' assessment plan might have been:

Children's Storybook: Presentational Communication Assessment

Assessment objective

Students are able to create a story narrative with characters, actions, and a resolution appropriate to the genre. Students read and record the story with appropriate expression so that younger students understand the story.

Assessment type

Written and recorded presentation

Authenticity

The product -- a storybook with illustrations that help convey meaning to young children -- is something that is found in real life.

Select a thematic unit that you have previously taught or are planning to teach for which you could develop an assessment plan. Using the above assessment plan as a model, design a culminating unit activity that you can use to assess student performance and that addresses one or more of the communicative modes (interpretive, interpersonal, presentational) and perhaps cultural or content knowledge. You can use the Formal Performance Assessment (PDF, 54 K) form to guide your design.